Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-07-21
A Letter.
This is about the style of letter Mr..
Cleveland should have written.

This is about the style of letter Mr..
Cleveland should have written.
DEAR ST. LOUIS CMMTrTEEMEN: We
have both made a mistake-you in
inviting me and [ in accepting the
invitation Both of us ought to have
known that | would not be welcome at
such a gathering. There is not now,
never has been and there never will be
anything In common between the
Grand Army of the Republic and my
sell. When the war commenced l was
great, strong, lubberly, robust young
man, just the right age for a soldier,
but | thought the law Wa, unconstution-
al and was opposed to it and refused to
volunteer, from principle, and when |
was drafted into the service | Scraped
up money enough to make small pay
ment on a cheap substitute and sent the
poor devil down thereto do my fighting
This fact of itself establishes my stand
ing with the Grand Army.
In 1864, as all my neighbors and
friends will testify, | threw my hat very
high when the Chicago convention de-
clared the war for the Union a failure
and clamored for peace at any price.
You could mt expect the Grand Army to
warm up to one of the old '64 crowd
that reioiced over that democratic plat
form.
AS President have studiously vetoed
pension bills, and the dependent
pension bill, which the Grand Army
almost without exception desired
should become a law, | vetoed with a
relish, Notwithstanding the fact that a
bill just like it, which proposed to
pension the survivors of the Mexican
war, nearly all of whom were in the
Southern states, and most of whom
were soldiers in the rebel army, [
signed with a relish. Vetoing one and
signing the other might well create
unpleasant feelings toward me in the
breasts of the Grand Army. | knew 1T
would and you ought to have known it
and that one fact alone ought to have
prevented your inviting me to mingle
with the people whose wishes L had
taken pleasure in trampling under foot.
You know as well as [ know that nv
order to return those flags to the south
was virtual surrender of the North to
the South; you and | know that it was
placing loyalty and treason on equality;
you and | know that those old flags, had
they been sent South, would, for gener-
atoms to come, have been brought out
on every State occasion-that they
would have headed professions for
decorating graves of Southern soldiers;
that they would have been brought out
on the occasion of JEFF Davis visits;
that they would have been thrown to
the breez when ever a confederate
monument was dedicated; that the stars
and bars would have ranked higher in
the eyes and the hearts and the minds
of the South then the stars and stripes
OF course the Grand Army of the Re-
public knew these things, too, for they
are no longer beardless boys; they are
mature men. Messrs. Committeeman,
lets you and put ourselves in the place
of Grand Army and ask this question:
''Wouldn't we have kicked up Just about
as much noise over the invitation of
such a man as [ am, as they have done?"
There is one other word wish to say
| am the only official of any character
who has officially recognized the South
ern states as the confederate states"
These old soldiers were con to" that in
minute. They could see in the recog-
milton scheme which would result
sooner or later, in a powerful effort to
Oblige the national government to paw
the old rebel debt OF course the bows
in blue don't like anything that looks
like such consumation. Between you
and |, gentlemen, don't care to discuss
that question further at this time. Wait
until Dan Manning and [ open a law
office. We shall make collections a
feature. l can't be with you.
GROVER CLEVELAND.
Such letter would have been honest
and manly. The one he wrote was
tricky and misunderstanding Tele
graph.